The move means the councillor - who sits on a religious education committee - can still attend meetings - but as an independent.

There have also been calls for Cllr Potts to resign after he re-tweeted comments made by other individuals such as: “Deport and repatriate all Muslims from the UK or watch terrorists kill innocent people for generations to come.”

He also re-tweeted: “You’ve clearly not experienced the Pakistani hospitality, having a daughter raped by men who think she’s ‘white trash’.

When approached by our reporter the long-standing councillor, who sits as the local authority’s representative on the standing advisory committee on religious education, stressed he did not share or support the comments.

It was, he said, a “freedom of speech issue”.

That explanation has failed to satisfy council opposition leader James Burn who has demanded the Conservative’s resignation.

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“When you start re-tweeting things about deporting all Muslims you are publicising views that are very close to crossing a legal line and encouraging hatred.

“I’m afraid to say I don’t think he has any other choice but to resign. By re-tweeting, you are spreading that view and information.

“I’m concerned about the tweets. I’m concerned this is a councillor on a committee advising on religious education, I’m concerned this is the same Conservative group who have only just been in trouble for a similar incident and did not act swiftly following a complaint about it.

“A resident brought this matter to my attention as they were very upset and told me he’d contacted Solihull Conservatives on their group email.”

It is not the first time Solihull Council has been embroiled in a twitter row. Just last month, Coun Ken Hawkins was banned from senior roles on the body following a tweet involving the Grenfall Tower disaster.

(Image: Handout)

He captioned a picture of protesters demanding justice: “Lets get ourselves a hangin!”

A Code of Conduct hearing banned the former mayor from holding a cabinet position for the remainder of the municipal year.

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He was keen to brush off the controversy when interviewed by our reporter, stating: “I have no comment on that at all. My public page states I don’t endorse re-tweets”, meaning he does not support the views stated.

Cllr Potts did, however, explain that the tweets were briefly displayed as a matter of freedom speech. He “certainly did not” agree with those views.

Sabir Hussain, trustee of the Solihull Muslim Community Association, voiced his “sadness” over the remarks that appeared on Cllr Potts’ twitter account.

He said: “I feel sorry for him because he is misguided and has shown narrow vision.

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“There is, in any community, religion or sect, bad apples. The Muslim faith is not exempt from that. To retweet something that suggests all are like that is unfair.

“Retweeting something like that only inflames community relations that we have worked very hard to fuse together.

“Solihull is a very nice place to live. I have lived there for 35 years and have very good friends among various religions. We find it very comforting to relate to each other’s religions. We are all one together, regardless of colour and shape, and we are one very cohesive society.”

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Cllr Hawkins said: “The Grenfell Tower fire is a real tragedy and my thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends. In this day and age this fire should never have occurred.

“I fully appreciate that my tweet on Friday, which related to the protests outside and inside the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council offices, may have caused offence and I unreservedly apologise for that.

“In no way whatsoever was the short message directed at the unfortunate victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and I am distraught that some people have interpreted it in this way.”

At the time, council leader Bob Sleigh OBE said: “Like the whole country, I have been shocked and deeply move by the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower,” he said.

(Image: Internet Unknown)

“Over the weekend the council received a formal complaint about the actions of Cabinet Member Ken Hawkins. In light of the complaint related to comments on social media, an investigation will now take place, led by the council’s Monitoring Officer in line with the council’s standards procedures.

“I have taken the immediate action to suspend Councillor Hawkins from his Cabinet Member position for the Environment, Housing and Regeneration. I will be taking responsibility in the short term for these areas.”

Warning over the dangers of sharing tweets

There are distinct echoes between the Solihull controversy and the tweet troubles that landed school governor and Tory campaigner Gary Walker in hot water.

The 50-year-old, who last year stood for election to Gosport Borough Council, Hampshire, was “spoken to” by his party after a post suggesting mosques should be bulldozed was shared on his account.

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The post said: “Every time a jihadist commits an act of terrorism in a Western country, all Western countries should bulldoze one mosque.” It adds: “Share if you agree.”

When the row erupted in May, Conservative Association chairman George McAleese said: “It’s not on, it’s just not on. ‘I’ll be having a quiet word. I don’t support that view at all.

“He feels he’s let the association down. He works hard for us and he feels he’s let us down.”

Cllr Graham Burgess, deputy leader of Gosport Borough Council, said: “Everyone has their own views. We as the association don’t associate ourselves with that. That’s the danger on Facebook, clicking on something – people should be aware.

“We at the association don’t tolerate it and George will have words with Gary, it’s not something we expect from members. People are expressing their views. I’d urge all members and users of Facebook not to share it or forward it.”